1. Field
The present invention relates to usage of network devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to determining with confidence when a change of users occurs for a network enabled device.
2. The Relevant Technology
Network enabled devices are used to access a network and be involved in many network events, such as browsing web sites, participating in telephone calls, etc. It is often desirable for those in the network to know who is using the network enabled device, such as for marketing or other purposes. In many cases, however, the users of a device may periodically change. In conventional systems, this change of users is hard, if not impossible to detect. This is especially true in mobile devices, where the users of the mobile devices are often different than the registered owners. For example, the owner of a mobile device may simply allow somebody else to temporarily use the mobile device. Or the subscriber of a mobile service may permanently give his mobile device to another, e.g. to a son or other family member, upon termination of the owner's subscription. As another example, in a number of markets it is not uncommon for a mobile device to be shared within a home, family or village. In all of these situations, the user of the mobile device can be different than the registered owner of the mobile device. This can lead to various problems.
For example, M-Pesa is a mobile-phone based money transfer and microfinancing service that allows users with a national ID card or passport to deposit, withdraw, and transfer money easily with a mobile device. Users are charged a small regulated fee for sending and withdrawing money using the service. The M-Pesa service is provided by agents who must be registered. Each agent provides the service by allowing people to use the agent's mobile device to perform the transactions.
However, a significant problem has arisen in the implementation of M-Pesa. There are many people who now provide the service without being registered. Many problems have arisen because of this, such as the unregistered provider applying disproportionate fees to the users, and fraud is being committed by the unregistered providers. Unfortunately, today's analyticals cannot distinguish between a registered owner of a mobile device and a separate user of the device. Because of this, unregistered providers are extremely difficult, if not impossible to detect.
Other problems are also caused by the indistinguishability of today's analyticals between owners and users of mobile devices.